The invention relates to an arrangement for examining microscopic and macroscopic specimens with a scanning microscope. In particular, the invention relates to an arrangement for examining microscopic and macroscopic specimens with a scanning microscope that comprises a laser and optical means which image the light generated by the laser onto a specimen to be examined. In particular, the scanning microscope can be designed as a confocal microscope.
Up to now, scanning microscopes are known in the prior art, with which microscopic specimens can be examined. In scanning microscopy, a specimen is scanned by means of a light beam. To this end, lasers are used as light sources. However, it is not possible up to now to also examine large macroscopic objects such as small fishes with a conventional confocal laser scanning microscope since neither the working distance nor the scan field are dimensioned accordingly. There is, however, an increasing demand to also examine macroscopic objects with a high resolution, in particular for pharmaceutical problems or also in developmental biology. It is, for example, of high interest for the understanding of the mechanism of action of pharmaceuticals to examine also larger objects such as zebrafishes directly under a microscope. Due to their transparence, zebrafishes are very well suited for light microscopic examinations.